Ratchet-wrench.



. in the county of Weber and State of Utah,have

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MILTON JOSIAH WEST, OF OGDEN, UTAH.

,RATCHET-WRENCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 721,265, dated February 24, 1903.

Application filed February 17,1902. $erial No. 94,515. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Beit known that I, MILTON JOSIAH WEST, a citizen of the United States, residin gat Ogden invented a new and useful Ratchet-Wrench, of whichthe following is a specification;

My invention is an improved ratchetwrench; and it'consists in the peculiar construction and combination of devices hereinafter fully set forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is partly a plan view and partly a section of a ratchet-wrench embodying my improvements. Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the same, taken on a plane at right angles to that of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view of one of the jaws. Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on a plane indicated by the line a, a of Fig. 1.

In the embodiment of my invention I provide a casing 1, which is preferably circular in form, is provided with a circular opening 2, and has on one side a projecting handle 3. A spur-wheel 4 is disposed in the circular opening in the said casing and is adapted to rotate therein, and the said spur-wheel is provided with a central rectangular opening 5. On one side of, the casing is a plate 6, which is circu lar in form, has a central circular opening 7,

and is provided on its inner side with a spirally-disposed thread or worm 8. The said worm-plate rotates with the spur-wheel 4.

On the side of the casing opposite the wormplate 6 is a plate 9, which has a central circular opening 10. A pair of jaws 11 have their central portions disposed in and extending through the openings in the spur-wheel 4, worm-plate 6, and plate 9. The saidjaws are provided in their outer sides neartheir centers with transverse grooves 12, which are adapted to receive opposite sides of the spurwheel 4. The side edges 13 of the said jaws bear against the other sides of the opening 5 and are guided thereby, and hence the said jaws are movable radially in the opening 5 toward and from each other. The said jaws are further provided in their outer sideswith grooves 14, the inner sides of which'conform to the radius of the opening 7 in the wormplate 6, and the said grooves are adapted to receive those portions of the said worm-plate which form opposite sides of the opening 7. Studs 15 are formed with the jaws 13 on the inner sides of the grooves 14 and engage the object engaged thereby, may be turned in either direction by a dog 16, which is carried by the handle 3 and is adapted to engage the spurs of the wheel 4.

In the form of myinvention which is clearly shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 4 the dog 16 is disposed in a recess 17 at the inner end of the handle, where it joins the casing 1, and the dog is provided with an outwardly-projecting stem 18, which operates inv a bore 19 in the handle, and is further provided with a head 20, which is adapted to be turned by the thumb and forefinger of the operator in order to dispose the dog in either direction, and hence adapt the same when the handle 3 is moved back and forth to rotate the wheel 4 and the jaws carried thereby by a step-bystep movement by successively engaging the spurs of said wheel. The head 20 is provided on opposite sides with tongues 21, wh'ichare parallel with the axis of the dog, and in opposite sides of the recess 17 are longitudinal grooves 22, which may be engaged by the tongues 21 and form guides and stops for the head and dog. At the inner end of the recess 17 the sides thereof are shouldered and enlarged or widened, as at 23. Hence by moving the dog outwardly until the head 20 clears the grooves 22 the dog may by the head be turned, so as to reverse its position with reference to the wheel 4 and when reengaged with the latter will cause said wheel and the dog carried thereby to be turned in the reverse direction when the handle is operated, as before described. A spring 24, which is here shown as a coiled spring, disposedon the stem 18 and bearing between the handle and the head 20, keeps the dog in engagement with the spur-wheel 4.

Having thus described my invention, I claim W 1. In a wrench, the combination of a casing having a circular opening and means whereby spur-wheel 4, together-with the jaws and the 1 it may be turned, a revoluble element in said circular opening and having a parallel-sided opening, means to turn the revoluble element with the casing, revoluble plates on opposite sides of the casin g, covering the revoluble element and having circular openings, and movable jaws extending through the openings in the casing, revoluble element and coveringplates, said jaws having in their outer sides recesses with angular sides engaged by the sides of the revoluble element formed by the parallel-sided opening therein and recesses with curved sides engaged by the sides of the revoluble covering-plates, formed by the circular openings therein, substantially as described.

2. In a wrench, the combination of a casing having acircular opening and means whereby it may be turned, a revoluble element in said circular opening and having a parallel-sided opening, means to turn the revoluble element with the casing, revoluble plates on opposite sides of the casing, covering the revoluble element, and having circular openings, one of said plates having a worm-thread on one side thereof, and movable jaws extending through the openings in the casing, revoluble element and covering-plates, said jaws having studs engaging the worm-thread and being provided in their outer sides with recesses with angular sides engaged by the sides of the revoluble element formed by the parallel-sided opening therein, and recesses with curved sides engaged by the sides of the revoluble covering-plates formed by the circular openings therein, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

MILTON JOSIAH \VEST.

Witnesses:

F. T. CLINTON, JAMES ERICKSON. 

